suspended ceiling questions

I'm getting very close to putting my first suspended ceiling in after finishing my basement.. and I have some questions...

I've of course read the documents Armstrong (time and grid are from Armstrong) gives... but here are my simple questions

1) the wall molding that you put up first, what type of nails do you use? I know they are pretty small nails, but never saw any documentation saying what is the prefered size / type.

2) when putting in recessed lights, what is the order you do things? should I put in the tiles that will have lighting first as a test pattern, then take them and use my circle cutter (drywall / ceiling tile drill attachment) and cut the circles then put them back in, set the lights ontop of that then screw them to the grid? the lights I planned on using (Halo brand) say they can screw onto the T grid and seem to have clips for it to sit onto it... what type of screws do you use? and how long shoudl they be? or should I just let the light sit on the grid freely and have it held in place by gravity and the trim that I use?

Advertisement

suspended ceiling questions

On some of the newer Halos, they have a holddown screw that is mounted to the clip, then tightened to the grid.
I would use a 3/4" self tapping screw.
Determine where the lights are going, cut out the center of the tile and install the light.
After all the lights are in, install the rest of the tiles.

Advertisement

suspended ceiling questions

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbfan

On some of the newer Halos, they have a holddown screw that is mounted to the clip, then tightened to the grid.
I would use a 3/4" self tapping screw.
Determine where the lights are going, cut out the center of the tile and install the light.
After all the lights are in, install the rest of the tiles.

Can't help with the other questions.

yep, the ones I am using have the hold down screw, do you just use that screw only? and do you tighten it to it stays or should it screw all the way into the beam?

suspended ceiling questions

suspended ceiling questions

well last night went out and bought a rotary laser level. thought it would help this install a lot, and so far yes, worth $200 even if its not self leveling...

I cut a 10" strip of wall molding and screwed it up high on the wall, and mounted the laser level on the wall with its track hanger it came with to find the lowest point int the room used the vertical adjustment on the wall hanger... then started to install the wall molding... well went great, used drywall screws... found out fast that the drill dit can slip if you put too much pressure on the screw... so some phillips looking holes to patch now anyways... only have one problem so far... in one spot the wall has a slight bow in it, about 1/8" which the track has a gap behind it, I pushed it as much as I could without warping the holding, but still has a 1/8" gap for about 6", anything I can do to hide that?

suspended ceiling questions

suspended ceiling questions

Quote:

Originally Posted by cgoll

Put something interesting on the floor there?

funny man

I was thinking filling the spot with caulk, but didn't know how bad that would look... but then when the tile is in the area you'd see into with that small gap would be dark, so maybe it wont even be noticable

suspended ceiling questions

well last night installed the ceiling in the first room. I am amazed at how fast it can go.. thought it would take a few days, was planning on taking this weekend (three day weekend due to columbas day) and doing the ceiling, but the only thing that took a while for me was determining the border width... once I got that and the main beams figured out it went extreamly fast... heck last night I got the grid put in and had so much time left that I went out to lowes and bought a pack of recessed lights and layed them out to see what looked best and got all them roughed in... also got my ceiling baffel panel in (one of those 2x2 baffels that just lays in perfectly flat) and connected up... now I just need my panels to put in... but they are on special order since lowes doesnt carry the style I wanted... have to wait till the 20th to get those

but one last question, I did the grid wire as the armstrong guide recommended every 4 ft down the main beam, but is that enough? the ceiling is 12 x 15 ft and it seems like with 3 main beams a whole 9 wires isnt that much... I did put a few extra on the grid squares that are now holding the recessed lighitng just to give it extra support but then recessed lights dont weigh that much compared to drop in 2x4 florescents... any suggestions on the grid wire support or am I good to go?